Metz Cathedral, "Lantern of God", celebrates its 800th anniversary with new stained glass windows

From the 1220th century to the present day, almost all the centuries are represented in this building, built from 1552 to 6.500 (with contributions until the beginning of the XNUMXth century) and which has XNUMX m² of glazed surface and the "largest windows of the transept. of Europe ", according to Mgr Jean-Christophe Lagleize, Bishop of Metz.

To perpetuate the tradition, the XNUMXst century stained-glass windows by South Korean Kimsooja will soon be unveiled opposite those by Marc Chagall, "Creation and Original Sin".

Kimsooja was chosen following a public order carried out by the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs. Previously the proposals of the artists solicited, Gérard Garouste (1991) and Jean-Pierre Raynaud (2014) had not resulted with the clergy.

The South Korean's idea, "Breathe", is presented as a "showcase of changing colors with variations in daylight". To achieve this, she superimposes traditional colored glasses with industrial glasses, called "dichroic" glasses, which reflect certain colors but let others pass.

"Preserved by Attila"

Kimsooja will complete the long list of artists who have signed the stained glass windows of this cathedral, the third highest in France behind Amiens and Beauvais with a vault located at 42 meters, thanks to the audacity of the architect Pierre Perrat (1340-1400 ).

Hermann de Münster (XNUMXth century), Thomas de Clinchamp, Théobald de Lixheim (XNUMXth century), Valentin Bousch (XNUMXth century) had marked the first golden age of stained glass, that of stained glass-painting, explains Abbot Gabriel Normand, canon of the 'building.

With the master glassmaker Laurent-Charles Maréchal (451th century) creativity returned to this building built on an overhang, "at the very place where the oratory dedicated to Saint-Étienne was located, spared by Attila in XNUMX during the destruction. of the city ", recount Mgr Lagleize and Canon Normand.

True works of art, the stained glass windows were protected by the Moselle clergy during the Second World War, crated and stored in the crypt of the cathedral even before the outbreak of hostilities.

"When war was declared, they were sent to the castle of Dissay, near Poitiers, before the Germans discovered them and sent them to Germany. They were found by the Americans in a salt mine", relates Guillaume Lefèvre, curator of the cathedral and architect of the Buildings of France.

After the war, the cathedral benefited from the revival of French stained glass to fit into the contemporary era, like the liturgical furniture by Swiss Mattia Bonetti (2006) and yet in perfect harmony with the Merovingian cathedral carved into a column Roman in light marble.

Cocteau by Chagall

While we usually called on master glassmakers like Pierre Gaudin (1954), under the aegis of Robert Renard, chief architect of historical monuments, great artists were called upon.

Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque or Fernand Léger declined and Jean Cocteau was dismissed in favor of Marc Chagall (1959). Jacques Villon (1957) and Roger Bissière (1959) will also work.

Villon, with its dazzling colors, will paint "the first figurative stained-glass windows in a building classified as a historic monument", underlines Abbot Normand.

Bissière has contrasted mosaics in cold bluish tones on the north side and warm tones on the south side. He gave his reading of Creation, the Fourth day, when day separates from night.

Chagall, of Jewish faith and who had to receive the support of André Malraux, Minister of Culture, to complete his work, made him blaze the colors of Fauvism.

Its stained glass windows on the theme of the Old Testament gave the cathedral greater fame. At the same time, they contain part of his personal language. For Chagall, Christ carries his cross as the world carries its misery.

And for the future of the stone building of Jaumont, candidate for a classification by Unesco, "there are stained glass windows to decorate", underlines Mgr Lagleize.